Tahziba Hussain

Leprosy and tuberculosis : An insight-review

A quick glance at this review article provides an insight into the common and different features of M. leprae and M. tuberculosis and the diseases caused by these organisms. provides the popular names, history, stigma, description of the disease, clinical features, classification and the types of disease manifestations, who are affected, Signs and Symptoms, Clinical examination, treatment regimens, reactions, relapses, immunity, infectiousness, risk groups, deformities, sequelae, transmission, prevention, complications, vaccination, laboratory studies, days of importance for both the diseases. provides information regarding the causative organisms, M. leprae and M. tuberculosis, their size, genome, protein coding region, lost genes, pseudogenes, classification, predilection, incubation period, ecology, cell structure, metabolism, resistance, bacterial index, growth in vitro, experimental animals, etc. provides figures of M. leprae and M. tuberculosis, their genome, Lepromin and Tuberculin testing, Global scenario, Indian scenario, colonies of M. leprae and M. tuberculosis, drugs for treatment of tuberculosis and leprosy (MDT blister pack), and so on.

Cd4+, Cd8+, Cd3+ Cell Counts And Cd4+/cd8+ Ratio Among Patients With Mycobacterial Diseases (leprosy, Tuberculosis), Hiv Infections, And Normal Healthy Adults: A Comparative Analysis Of Studies In Different Regions Of India

In this study, we estimated the CD4+, CD8+, CD3+ cell counts and the CD4/CD8 ratio among normal healthy controls (adults and children), leprosy patients (without any complications and during reactional states), TB patients (with and without HIV), and HIV-positive patients (early infection and full-blown AIDS) and correlated the changes with disease progression. In our study, it was observed that among adults, CD4+ cell counts ranged from 518–1098, CD8+ from 312–952, whereas CD4/CD8 ratio from 0.75–2.30. Among children, both CD4+ and CD8+ cells were more and the CD4/CD8 ratio varied from 0.91–3.17. With regard to leprosy patients, we observed that CD4+ and CD8+ cell counts were lower among PB (pauci-bacillary) and MB (multi-bacillary) patients. CD4/CD8 ratio was 0.99 ± 0.28 among PB patients while the ratio was lower, 0.78 ± 0.20, among MB patients. CD4+ cell counts were raised during RR (reversal reactions) and ENL (erythema nodosum leprosum) among the PB and MB patients whereas the CD8+ cell counts were lower among PB and MB patients. CD4/CD8 ratio doubled during reactional episodes of RR and ENL. Among the HIV-negative tuberculosis (TB) patients, both the CD4+ and CD8+ cell counts were found to be less and the CD4/CD8 ratio varied between 0.53–1.75. Among the HIV-positive TB patients and HIV-positive patients, both the CD4+ and CD8+ cells were very less and ratio drops significantly. In the initial stages of infection, as CD4+ counts drop, an increase in the CD8+ cell counts was observed and the ratio declines. In full-blown cases, CD4+ cell counts were very low, 3–4 to 54 cells, CD8+ cells from 12–211 and the ratio drops too low. This study is the first of its kind in this region of the country and assumes importance since no other study has reported the values of CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte counts among patients with mycobacterial diseases (leprosy and TB), HIV infections along with normal healthy individuals of the region, and correlation with clinical presentations of patients.

Human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B virus co-infections among tuberculosis patients attending a Model Rural Health Research Unit in Ghatampur, North India

Introduction: This prospective cross-sectional hospital-based study was carried out in order to assess the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections among patients with active tuberculosis (TB) disease attending an Outpatient Department (OPD) at the Model Rural Health Research Unit in Ghatampur, a rural village in Kanpur district. Materials and Methods: The socio-demographic features and clinical profile of the TB patients were analysed in the context of symptoms at the time of testing. The HIV and HBV status were determined and correlated with clinical features at the time of testing. Results: In our study, the prevalence of HIV infection among TB patients is 1.48% (18/1215) and that of HBsAg reactivity was found to be 2.96% (36/1215). During 2007–2010, the HIV-positivity varied between 1.5% and 1.45% whereas HBV reactivity ranged between 2.4% and 3.63%.A substantial percentage of the TB patients attending the OPD in Ghatampur harbour HIV and HBV infections, which otherwise would remain undiagnosed without serological screening. Conclusion: Co infection with HBV among TB patients potentiate the risk of anti-tuberculous therapy-induced hepatotoxicity, therefore, exercising caution and carefully monitoring the patients for drugs associated hepatotoxicity is essential. There is an urgent need to perform population-based surveys of HIV and hepatitis infections among TB patients to assess the true extent of the problem. Efforts should be made to make physicians aware of the peculiarities and manage these patients effectively.